Prologue
Corey
“You’re not even going to stop me?” Her beautiful blue eyes are shining with her tears. It hurts. It hurts me so bad to see her like this, but I don’t know what else I can do. I have to let her go.
“You said you wanted this, Eva,” I reminded her gently.
“No,” she shakes her head, "I didn't say I wanted this, Corey. I never said I wanted this. I told you what I wanted." The tears started falling down her youthful, rosy cheeks. Even crying like this, her eyes red and her strawberry curls wild from dancing all evening, she is still the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.
And I don’t deserve her.
I never deserved her. I listened to my wolf 16 years ago, but we both resolved ourselves to do what’s best for her. Her whole life, we have been devoted to nothing but her happiness. I knew the day that she started to look more like a woman, when she started to be more demanding, when she started to turn the heads of everyone around her that I would not ever deserve the gift of her love. She needs greatness, and greatness is what I will never be.
I am not worthy of her. I am nobody. I am a lowly Beta, while she is a descendant from heaven itself. She is, in every definition of the word, an angel, and being with me when she can have so much great will only hurt her in the end.
She deserves the best, and that will never be me.
“He can give you everything I can’t,” I murmured, resting my hand on the side of her perfect face. Samson is howling in pain in my head, knowing we will never feel the shivers and tingles her touch brings us again, but even he isn’t fighting this. He knows she deserves more than what we can give her too.
“I only wanted one thing,” she says in a soft, broken whisper, “One thing from you Corey. Nothing else matters to me.” She takes a step back, away from my hold, biting her trembling lip to keep herself from sobbing. “But I guess you are still unwilling to give me that.” She looks down to the ground, crumpling the picture in her hand. The picture her mother took of us at the beginning of the party. “I’m sorry I was such a burden to you all these years. I’m sorry for having you waste your life on me. I’ll go, and pray you find someone that can truly make you happy.”
My heart clenches in my chest, my wolf is snarling and howling in pain, not wanting her to go. He wants me to take it all back, to tell her that she was never a waste. He wants me to hold her and beg her not to go, to choose me instead, and he wants to finally give in to the bond, taking her the way she has been begging us to for the last few years.
He won’t say he wants all those things, but I can feel it. I know what he wants, because I want the same. I want to devote every last shred of myself to her happiness, and in some small, insignificant way, this is what I’m doing, because I know I will be nothing without her. My life will no longer have any meaning. My world will stop spinning, and I will waste away, praying that she is never aware of the pain this is causing me.
“I hope he will make you happy,” I said, trying my damndest to keep the same smile I'd always shown her when I was hiding my true feelings on my face.
“I hope he will too,” she looks away, hiding her hurt expression from me. “Goodbye, Corey,” she mutters, then hurries out of the room, throwing the picture on the ground as she leaves.
I bend down and pick it up, and when I can no longer smell her strawberry scent, I finally break down and let my sorrow flow freely.
My tears drip down on the picture of us dancing to that damned song. She looked so beautiful tonight. At least my last night being her mate, I got to dance with her while she looked every bit the angel that she is. That will forever be my most treasured memory. None could be greater.
“Goodbye, Princess,” I pressed the picture to my lips, “I will always love you, even after letting you go.”
